Joshua Parfitt
BLOOD transfusions from Covid-19 survivors are being tested in a Madrid medical centre for use as a groundbreaking treatment.
The Spanish capital’s Centre for Transfusions is working ‘against the clock’ with localised hospitals to complete the first clinical trial.
The trial has not been approved by the Ministry of Health, but a leaked document from the Centre has seen hundreds of offers of blood on social media, report El Pais.
Blood transfusions from survivors were reportedly used to combat the Spanish flu in 1918, and succeeded in slashing mortality rates by half.
Spanish-Cuban immunologist Arturo Casadevall – a leading spokesperson for the blood transfusions from his base in New York – said a study with 69 Ebola patients in Sierra Leone also saw mortality rates cut in half.
Another investigation of 80 patients during the Hong Kong SARS outbreak in 2003 showed the earlier plasm transfusion was performed, the better the prognosis for the patient.
He added that, while a Covid-19 vaccine could take months, whereas plasma from survivors could be ready in mere ‘weeks’.
It comes as Spanish multinational Grifols has also revealed this Wednesday it is working with the Federal Drug Agency in the USA to process plasma from Covid-19 survivors.
The organisation is also conducting a clinical trial with the plasma in cooperation with blood donation centres and public hospitals – though little more is known, report El Pais.
